Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Branches New England arrrh! wheel problem need help

Hey I figured i would ask you guys before going to the problems forum, dont seem to get much help there anyway.

So i put my car back on the road today and went for inspection and failed because my Left front tire shakes side to side.. That would explain why the 2 studs snapped last time and will most likely do so again. My question is what is causing this.. the guy started talking about a bearing or something so i think, but walked away cause he was so busy. Anyway any ideas, and is it something I would beable to fix and what am i looking at for $$

thanks in advance everyone.
~Mike

caster/camber?

tie rods?

either one i believe would cause this.

look at spmotorsports.com or talk to terry h.

oh...

and MAKE SURE THOSE LUGS ARE TIGHT!

if it was shaking side to side it could be the wheel bearing but it could also be a tie rod.

there would have to be some serious shaking going on for you to snap studs like that.
you would also feel the vibration constantly while driving.
from my exp. it sounds more like the lugs were too tight. sounds like they weren't torqued properly. too tight can sometimes be worse than too loose. when the lugs get tightend too much the studs stretch. also if the wheels were put on by a shop, and they used a impact wrench, the could have fugged them up when they snugged up the lugs. the worst thing you can do is strt the lug a little bit then throw teh impact on it. what happens is the lug spins on super quick then bottoms out on the wheel causing impact loading on the stud. that leads to a small stretch and possibly a crack.

so as a pecaution always spin your lugs on by hand untill snug, then you canuse an impact to snug them up some more, but finish them off woth the proper torque. and retorque them within 100 miles.

but back to your original question....
if it is wheel bearings you should replace them when you do your rotors anyway. as for tie rods, a little more difficult but still back yard doable. don't forget the alignment afterwards.

tight, yet not too tight, right?

torqued to proper specs of course.
don't want one of those "stretched threads" problems that Mike encountered when installing his KVR's. (stupid air tools)

Edit: damn you elky for beating me to the punch!
*shakes fist*
get back to your hole b*tch!

sorry kim...
uh..wait..no im not!
hehe

ok its def. not that there on too tight cause this is the second time this is happening. and your right it DOES vibrate all the time. So the guy must have been right when he said it was a bearing.. So how much is this going to cost me and where can i get the stuff. Thanks so much for your help guys / kim

i didn't know a wheel bearing could cause the wheel to move side to side....

Sounds like warn tie rod ends to me. Bearings would be real noisy, wouldn't they?

Bearing failure is usually indicated by a groaning sound when turning. Based on description so far might be best to take a closer look at ball joints, tie rod ends, etc first.

Sounds silly, (but cheap fix): check the wheel too.. make sure the balancing weights didn't get knocked off somehow.. wouldn't cause the wheel to move side to side directly, but would put a lot of wear and tear on the bearing.

for heavens sake people, just stay away from air tools on wheels. it only takes like 2-3 turns to get proper torque with the torque wrench after tightening/seating the wheel by hand. :p it's worth it to not warp rotors/break studs.